Rotary sprinkler



Oct. 29, 1968 A FRlEDMANN ET AL 3,408,009

ROTARY SPRINKLER Filed April 25, 1966 FIG-3 INVENTORS ANTON R.J.FRIEDMANN a BY RALPH EBY ATTORN EYS United States Patent-.0

3,408,009 ROTARY SPRINKLER Anton R. J. Friedmann and Ralph H. Eby, Troy, Ohio, as-

signors to Ashley F. Ward, Inc., doing business as The Skinner Irrigation Company, Troy, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Apr. 25, 1966, Ser. No. 544,793 3 Claims. (Cl. 239-230) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A rotary impulse sprinkler has an impact arm with a stream intercepting deflector including upper and lower flat walls connected by an end wall having a curved surface for directing the nozzle stream laterally. The upper and lower walls of the deflector are also connected by a second end wall having an inner surface extending normally across the path of the diverted stream and which cooperates with the upper and lower walls and a flat rear wall to break up the stream and convert it into a fan-shaped spray which is directed outwardly to provide uniform water coverage over the inner portion of the area being sprinkled.

This invention relates to water sprinklers, and specifically to an improved rotary impulse sprinkler which distributes water over a circular area or a predetermined sector thereof.

The present invention has special relation to a rotary type impulse sprinkler which generally includes a body having passageways formed therein for directing water to a nozzle mounted in an inclined position on the body. The body is usually mounted on a tubular inlet conduit or fitting for rotation of the nozzle about a vertical axis. Such impulse sprinklers commonly use a reaction arm which is pivotally mounted on the body and carries on one end a deflector member. The deflector member is adapted to intercept the concentrated stream from the nozzle for producing a reaction force to pivot the reac-- tion arm against the biasing force of a torsion spring. In this manner, the arm produces successive impacts on the body and thereby produces stepped rotational movement of the body and nozzle.

It is common to provide a reversing mechanism on such sprinklers whereby the nozzle travels back and forth within a predetermined arc to confine the stream of water from the nozzle to a corresponding part circle or sector of a circle. It is also desirable to provide a sprinkler of this type with the features of maximum radial coverage, substantially uniform distribution of water over the area sprinkled and the ability to confine the water distributed to a predetermined sector or part circle without any sig nificant overspray. The present invention is directed to an improved rotary impulse sprinkler which provides each of these features.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved rotary type impulse sprinkler which provides maximum radial coverage and substantially uniform distribution of water over a predetermined area.

As another object, the present invention provides a rotary sprinkler including a reversing mechanism for confining the water distributed from the nozzle to the outer portion of a predetermined part circular area in combination with a deflector member which produces a fanlike spray for distributing water substantially uniformly over the inner portion of the area without significant overspray beyond the boundaries of the area.

As a more specific object, the present invention provides a sprinkler as outlined above wherein the deflector member includes wall surface means for first diverting the concentrated stream from the nozzle laterally and then for redirecting the stream and converting it into a fan-shaped spray to produce a reaction force for pivoting the arm while also providing for substantially uniform distribution of water. i

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawing and the appended claims.

In the drawing: p

FIG. 1 is a perspective view ofa sprinkler constructed in accordance with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the sprinkler shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken on the line 33 of FIG. 5; V p FIG. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary section taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 5;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view looking at the front of the deflector member generally on the line 5-5 of FIG. 2; and Y 1 FIG. 6 is a schematic view of a quarter-circle spray pattern illustrating the water distribution produced by a sprinkler constructed in accordance with the invention.

Referring to the drawing, which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention, the sprinkler shown in FIG. 1 generally includes a body 10 supported by a hollow shaft (not shown) which extends downwardly from the body 10 and is mounted within a fitting 12 for rotation on a vertical axis 13. A nut 14 secures the fitting 12 to the shaft, and a suitable water supplyconduit '(not shown) is connected to the fitting 12 by the threads 15. Mounted on the upper portion of the fitting are a pair .of circumferentially adjustable wire stops 19 which are used, as will be described later, when it is desired to provide reversing movement of the body 10 to confine water distribution to a sector of a circle as defined by the angular position of the stops 19.

A nozzle 20 (FIG. 2) having a discharge outlet 22 is mounted on the body '10 and is threaded for convenient innerchange with another nozzle. The nozzle20- receives water through a passageway (not shown) formed within the body 10 from the water supply conduit connected to the fitting 12 to provide a concentrated stream S (FIGS. 3 and 4) of generally circular cross-section.

Extending from the lower portion of the body 10 is a flange 28 which is disposed directly under a flange 30 extending from the upper portion of the body. Formed within the flanges 28 and 30 are vertically aligned openings through which extends a pin 34. A reaction or impact arm 35 is spaced between the flanges 28 and 30 and includes a tubular portion 36 which receives the pin 34 for rotatably mounting the arm on the axis of the pin 34. The arm 35 also includes a hammer portion 37 (FIG. 2) which is adapted to strike the body 10 at a position close to the rotational axis 13 of the body 10. I

Surrounding the tubular portion 36 of the arm 35 is a helical torsion spring 40 having its lower end portion connected to the arm 35 and its upper end portion connected to the flange 30. The spring 40 is preloaded to produce a biasing clockwise torsional force (FIG. 2) on the arm 35 to hold the arm 35 normally against the body 10 in the position shown in FIG. 2. The arm 35 includes an enlarged weighted portion 42 on one end which counterbalances the weight of a deflector member 45 mounted on the opposite end of the arm.

Referring to FIGSv 3-5, the deflector member 45 has an upper wall 46 defining a flat inner surface 47 and a lower wall 48 which defines a flat inner surface 49. The walls 46 and 48 are spaced apart and are slightly angularly disposed in relation to each other as shown in FIG. 5. Connecting the upper wall 46 and lower wal,l 48 and forming a chamber 50 are a wall 51 (FIG. 3) having a curved inner surface 52, an end wall 53 and a rear wall 54 which are positioned to form an obtuse angle therebetween and define the corresponding straight surfaces 55 and 56. Also, extending between the upper wall 46 and lower wall 48 is an intermediate wall 57 (FIG. 3) which is spaced between the walls 51 and 53 and provides a flat surface 58 which is disposed in acute angular relationship with both the end wall surface 55 and the rear wall surface 56.

An inlet opening 60 for the chamber 50 is defined between leading edge 61 of the wall 51 and the edge 62 of the wall 54. The forward edge 63 of the wall 53 and the forward edge 64 of the intermediate wall 57 similarly define an outlet opening 65 (FIGS. 3 and which tapers slightly toward the end wall 53 as a result of the converging relationship of the upper wall 46 and the lower wall 48 toward the end wall 53. When the arm 35 is in its normal position adjacent the body (FIG. 3), the inlet opening 60 is disposed in front of the nozzle opening 22 so that the stream directed from the nozzle impinges on the curved surface 52 of the wall 51, and the curved surface 52 diverts this stream laterally through approxi mately 90 and onto the surface 55 of the end wall 53.

In operation, as indicated in FIGS. 3 and 4, the reaction member 45 is drawn into the concentrated stream of water from the nozzle 20 by the spring and the reaction force developed on the wall '51 as the surface 52 diverts the stream laterally from its normally straight direction. As soon as this laterally directed stream impinges the straight surface 55 which is positioned substantially perpendicular to the laterally directed stream, a reaction force is produced on the wall 53 which is opposite to the reaction force on the wall 51. By reason of the positions of the surfaces 55 and 52 relative to the axis of the pin 34, the moment arm of the reaction force on the wall 53 from the pin 34 is substantially greater than the moment arm of the reaction force on the wall 51. Thus the arm 35 and deflector member rotate counterclockwise (FIGS. 2 and 3) against the biasing force of the torsion spring 40, causing the leading edge 61 of the wall 51 to pass again through and out of the stream of water directed from nozzle opening 22.

The counterclockwise movement of the arm 35 continues until it is overcome and reversed by the torsion spring 40, and the reverse or clockwise movement terminates in impact of the hammer portion 37 on the body 10, which produces a reaction force centered on the axis of pin 34 causing the body 10 to move clockwise a few degrees. This impact is aided by the initial reaction force on surface 52 as the edge 61 enters and crosses the stream from nozzle 20, but immediately after the impact, the greater reaction force on surfaces 55 and 56 starts the counterclockwise movement of the arm 35, and the cycle repeats indefinitely.

The step-wise movement just described can cause complete rotation of body 10 to spray a full circle, or it may be limited to back and forth movement through a part circle, by a reversing mechanism such as is shown at 70 (FIG. 1) in conjunction with the adjustable stops 19. Referring to FIG. 1', the reversing mechanism 70 includes a toggle member 71 pivotally mounted on a screw 72 threaded into the body 10. The toggle member 72 pivots a stop member 75 through a compression spring 76 from an upper position where the head 77 engages the enlarged weighted portion 42 of the arm 35 during each oscillation to a lower position where the stop member 75 does not interfere with the swinging movement of the arm 35.

When it is desired to sprinkle only a sector portion of a circular area, such as a quarter-circle or half-circle, the stops 19 are set so that they alternately actuate the toggle member 71, which in turn pivots the stop member 75 to produce slow step rotation of the body 10 relative to the fitting 12 back and forth through an arc defined by the position of the stops 19. It is understood that the details 4 of the mechanism 70 form no part of the present invention but are well known by those skilled in the art.

Important features and advantages are provided by the deflector member 45 in operation during the instant while it is in the position of FIG. 3. That is, the straight surface 55 does not simply redirect the stream diverted by the curved surface 52, as it would do if it were similarly curved, but it breaks up the concentrated stream diverted laterally by the surface 52 so that severe turbulence develops in the space where the wall surfaces 47, 49, 55 and 56 meet, as indicated in FIG. 3. The result of this condition has been found to be a fan-shaped spray F, as indicated in FIGS. 3 and 4, which is directed through the outlet opening 65 generally parallel to the concentrated stream S directed from the nozzle 20.

Referring to FIG. 6, the fan-shaped spray F produced by the deflector member 45 has been found to provide substantially uniform water distribution over the inner portion 80 of the area covered by the sprinkler such as the quarter-circle area shown. Thus when this distribution is combined with the water distributed over the outer portion 81 of the area by the substantially more concentrated stream directed from the nozzle 20, there results a more uniform distribution of water over the entire area sprinkled.

As mentioned above, the wall surface 55 is essentially normal to the stream of water diverted laterally by the surface 52, so that it first substantially extinguishes the velocity of the concentrated jet stream and then cooperates with the adjacent surfaces 47, 49 and 56 to produce the fan-shaped spray F directed through the outlet opening 65. In addition, the edge 63 of the wall 53 and the edge 64 of the intermediate wall surface 58 cooperate to confine the corresponding outer streams 82 and inner stream 83 of the fan-shaped spray P so that the spray is directed generally parallel with the concentrated stream S of water which is directed from the nozzle 20. As a result, the fan-shaped spray F is confined substantially to the arcuate travel of the body 10 and provides relatively uniform distribution of water over the inner portion 80 of the area which is sprinkled without producing significant overspray beyond the boundaries of the area.

From the drawing and the above description, it can be seen that a rotary sprinkler constructed in accordance with the present invention provides several desirable features and advantages. Primarily, the cooperation of the more concentrated stream S from the nozzle 20 and the fan-shaped spray F from the deflector member 45 provides for a maximum radial coverage in addition to a substantially uniform distribution of water. Furthermore, as a result of the cooperation between the curved surface 52, the straight surfaces 55 and 56 and flat surfaces 58, 47 and 49, an offset fan-shaped spray is directed from the deflector member 45 during the instant the member is in the position shown in FIG. 3. In addition to providing the reaction force for pivoting the arm 35, this fanshaped spray is generally confined to the arcuate travel of the body 10 so that when the sprinkler is used for a part circular area, there is substantially no overspray beyond the radial borders of the area.

While the form of apparatus herein described constitutes a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to this precise form of apparatus, and that changes may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a sprinkler having a rotatably supported body carrying a nozzle for distributing a concentrated stream of water to obtain maximum radial coverage and to distribute water over an outer portion of a predetermined area, and a reaction arm pivotally mounted for oscillating movement on said body in a step-by-step manner, the improvement comprising a deflector member mounted on said arm and adapted to intercept said concentrated stream during each cycle of oscillation, said deflector member including an upper wall and a lower wall each having a substantially flat inner surface, a rear wall connecting said upper and lower walls, a first end wall connecting said upper and lower Walls and having an inner surface arranged to divert said stream laterally when said stream is intercepted, the distance between said inner surface of said first end wall and the inner surface of said rear wall being substantially greater than the distance between said inner surfaces of said upper and lower walls, said deflector member further including a second end Wall connecting said upper and lower walls and extending from said rear wall, and said second end wall having an inner surface extending substantially normally across the path of such diverted stream and cooperating with said inner surfaces of said upper and lower walls and said rear wall to convert such laterally directed stream into a fan-shaped spray and to direct such spray outwardly from said member generally parallel to said substantially flat inner surfaces of said upper and lower walls for distributing water substantially uniformly over the inner portion of said area and for producing a reaction force on said arm.

2. A sprinkler as defined in claim 1 wherein said inner surfaces of said upper and lower walls converge toward said second end wall to aid in forming the fan-shaped spray.

3. A sprinkler as defined in claim 1 wherein said deflector member further includes an intermediate wall extending between said upper and lower walls and disposed in spaced relation with said rear wall and said second end wall for cooperating with said walls to aid in breaking up such diverted stream into the fan-shaped spray.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,022,012 2/ 1962 Sharp et 'al 239230 2,757,046 7/ 1956 Holmes 239-230 3,208,672 9/1965 Sully 239230 M. HENSON WOOD, 111., Primary Examiner.

H. NATTER, Assistant Examiner. 

